Verizon Wireless to charge for phone upgrades

Verizon, the last holdout against device upgrade fees, has finally given in. The company announced Wednesday that it will start charging customers $30 to get new phones starting April 22. This isn't the cheapest fee, but it's still less expensive than either AT&T or Sprint. Both Sprint and AT&T had been charging $18 to customers for buying new phones with two-year contracts for some time. Sprint doubled its fee to $36 in September of 2011, followed by AT&T in February of 2012, while T-Mobile is sticking to its $18 upgrade fee. To its credit, Verizon, which has never charged an upgrade fee up to this point, waited well past the holiday rush of new smartphones like the iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy Nexus before starting to charge customers for upgrading. We don't expect customers will be happy with this upgrade tax, but Verizon states the fees will help it "continue to provide customers with the level of service and support they have come to expect." The company further notes that trading in ol